Before me stood a large, hulking monster, something that has been happening to me a lot lately. The two-legged brahmin-like beast with hands was also wearing a speedo. It had locked me in this sexual brothel, standing between me and Selen. Ponies of all kinks watched as this sexual beast either wanted to kill me or fuck me. Either way, it wouldn’t be easy to fight such a large opponent with a boner.

"Let's go bare hands, wooo! Yeah! Or in your case bare hooves." He proceeded to pull out two rippers and drop them to the side.

Rippers, a cross breed between a knife and a chainsaw. Sharpened serrated teeth on a chain ran around the large knife blade before running into the handle. Inside the knife's hand guard was a built in magic talisman. It enveloped the chain and teeth with magic, rotating them at high speeds. Although these rippers were larger than the ones advertised in magazines.

I was allowed to use my wings, given the fact that Pink Thing had let everyone at the brothel know, so I didn't have to worry about keeping them a secret. We charged at each other, although I had to look away as I begged for that speedo to stay on. I took to the air, matching his height with flight. He swung a focused and fast punch, I was barely able to dodge it.

Luckily that didn't stop my momentum and I gave him a blow to the face. A head flick nearly squared my side, but I was able to jump back in time. I gripped my hoof as it hurt, damn his face was hard. I looked up at him, seeing his glasses were cracked as I stood up, getting fired up.

We charged at each other again, but I stayed low this time. Dodging a lethal blow that went right through the floorboards, I attempted a sliding kick to his legs, only to be stopped by them. He looked down at me, as I was uncomfortably close. "You might beat me that way." He chuckled.

I rolled onto my rump and with one powerful flap of my wings I slid away from the pervert. "No! No, no, no, no," I said repeatedly.

He flexed and posed again, mares and stallions cheering. "Woooo yeah! Code seven and six!"

I stood up, shaking it off, only to see something unusual: two dozen ponies acting sexy on the stairs behind the beast. Rubbing their privates, moaning and exposing themselves to me. "What the hell tactic is that?!" It worked, I was embellished with a throbbing shame.

The smirking bastard charged at me, I was barely able to roll out of the way while still hiding my erection. "Wooo! Yeah! You trying to hide something? Let me see."

I blushed furiously, before barking. "No!"

He smirked and jumped high into the air, I was quite surprised by the height he managed. He dove back down towards me horns-first after kicking off the ceiling. He was like a missile flying towards me, causing an explosion of dust and splinters at he touched down. I lay on the floor, his horns perforating the wood around my neck. With his horns on either side of me, I was unable to escape as I was pinned down.

"Wooo! Yeah! You look pretty good for your age." I blushed so hard, trying to hide it with my legs. "Oh no, you don't." He grabbed my rear legs and spread them apart with much ease.

"Pervert!" I started slapping at his face with my wings frantically.

He grunted and pulled his horns out of the floor. Concrete dust coated the top half of them as he must have penetrated a fair way to the ground. I, no longer pinned, managed to break free of his hands and put some distance between us. He stood there and gazed into my eyes. His face appeared to be fine, those black curved up horns on his head remaining undamaged however the floor now had more holes in it.

"We want to see!" "Show us!" Ponies from the balcony began to shout and plead in order to see my junk.

I growled out through gritted teeth and shouted up at them, "Shut up, all you perverts!" and all they did was laugh.

Blushing profusely as I sighed loudly, I looked up towards the ceiling, whispering under my breath, “Chandelier…” I began to smirk as an idea started coming to mind. I took off towards the big pervert with a flap of my wings, moving in low once again. He tried to smash me down with both of his fists. I sped up and outflew his punch as his fists went into the floor, quickly flying up along the stairs, then the wall and ceiling. I landed atop the large metal chandelier, managing to hide my erection. I saw that the chandelier was held up by a pin.

The pervert looked up at me. "Crud." I pulled out the pin and the chandelier fell down atop him with a thud.

I covered myself with my hooves as I landed before the wreck I made. The crowd was silent as all eyes were on the twist of metal. But a slow chuckling began to emanate from below the metal, growing louder. "No," I said as I took a step back.

The bulk of metal began the creak and groan as it rose up. The beast was lifting the large metal chandelier upon his shoulders, gripping it with his massively powerful arms. "Hooow! Yay! Nice try baby, but it'll take more than that to stop Bronco!" The beast, Bronco, threw the chandelier to the side, laughing.

I growled in annoyance, charging forward at high speed. I repeatedly punched his rock hard abs and sides, before swooping behind him and kicking the back of his head. I then used my momentum to give the side of his face a spinning kick, followed by a reverse spinning kick to the other side. Quickly landing behind him, I headbutted his lower back.

"Are you done?" I was stunned, he wasn't affected at all. His mood also changed to more of a board one.

At the moment, I lowered my defenses. His tail wrapped around my neck. He brought me to eye level, as I struggled to break away from his tail. "This is the power of Bronco, one of the three enforcers of Rosenblatt's Iron Gem branch. You will not see Miss Selen in her time of hurt," he said firmly.

Bronco began to spin and twirl, bringing me along for the ride. The world was a blur, but I kept thinking about what he said, Selen was hurting. He flung me and I went flying towards the door. I used my wings as air brakes but still ended up slamming into the doors, hard. Feeling blood run out of my nose, I opened my eyes to see Bronco's fist flying towards me. I was able to flip myself up before the impact.

The doors shook as Bronco's fist made a huge dent in the thick metal. I placed my hooves on the door and was about to kick off it when time itself seemed to stop. Everything turned black and white as all the color drained into the floor. Then large rainbow bubbles began to float up through the floor. I looked into them, seeing my memories.

"Dark," I said, feeling my body was frozen in its position.

"Correct, you seem to be in a pickle, Star." I could hear him, but couldn't see him.

"I'm going to win, then I'm going to see Selen," I said, still looking for signs of Dark.

"Tell me, Star, why not just leave with her? Forget this suicidal plan of Blood Rose." I found him, well his eyes.

"Because I want to do this." I looked at his eyes, my eyes in the reflection of Bronco's glasses.

"Why didn't you leave with Candy?" I heard him laugh. "Do you want to die?"

I stared into those purple eyes. "I am going to see Selen."

"You didn't answer my question." Dark sighed. "But regardless, I'll help you."

"No killing," I stated firmly.

It was a few moments before Dark replied, "Killing them isn't the fun part, it’s the process that we enjoy. Anyway, let's work together."

I bolted forward, headbutting Bronco in the face before somersaulting between his horns. He stumbled back a few steps before we turned to look at each other. I stared into his red pinprick eyes, his shades broken.

He stared back at me. "So, you are one of them. I take it this is a deathmatch then?" He was tense, lowering his arms to his sides with fists clenched.

I, I mean, we smiled at him. "Oh, I'm not allowed to kill you. I'm just gonna hurt you. Really, really bad."

He turned to attack, but we moved behind him. Multiple blows to his lower back, where his kidneys might be. He dropped to his knee, shielding his back and sides with his hands. We then dodged a grab attempt by his tail and dashed upside down between his horns before grabbing them with our wings and using our momentum to swing down and kick his throat.

He dropped down, gasping and coughing as he struggled to catch us or his breath. A sluggish wide arm swing left his under arm exposed for a bucking. He grunted as we moved back. He stood up slowly, wheezing as he gripped his shoulder. We didn't know if it was broken or dislocated. No, it was probably just a bad sprain. We readied our wings as his feet scraped the ground, scratching the wood.

"That was much better, but still not good enough." He charged again.

Yet again we dodged, this time kicking off the back of his head. This made him stumble and crash into the staircase. We landed gracefully as there was an explosion of wood, carpet, and testosterone behind us. We looked back to see Bronco stand up, sporting just a few scrapes and bruises, although he had a large panel of wood stuck on the top of his horns. We tried not to laugh, as we imagined the perverts on the balcony were doing the same.

We were about to look up when we got an idea of how to finish this fight. We slowly trotted to the side as Bronco brushed off some dust and wood chippings. Before doing the same. We moved parallel, until we stopped, of which Bronco did too.

Rather predictably, Bronco charged. We on the other hoof waited for him to get close. Waiting for him to bow his horns at us, we flew back inside the twisted wreck of jarring metal that was the chandelier. There was a terrible noise all around us, as metal screamed and flesh bled. We looked to see the chandelier was pushed a few feet back, pushed by Bronco's impaled body.

We gulped as his horns were inches from our throat. But the twisted metal stopped him as it was forced clean through his shoulder. As for his other wounds, they were varied, from scratches to cuts and bruises. There wasn't a sound from anyone, we watched as blood ran down his body. We weren't sure if he was dead or if he just fainted.

We heard him groan as he put his strong hands on the metal, slowly pulling it apart. We saw a large enough opening for us. We dashed through as we landed in front of the door and looked back at Bronco. He pulled the metal off himself, freeing himself from the wreck, except for a warped metal bar protruding from both ends of his shoulder. Everyone, ourselves included, watched as he walked to the remains of the stairs.

Dripping blood as one arm was limp at his side, he kept his down. "Code seven, activate."

The moaning from everyone on the second floor increased from a background noise to a war moan. We looked up to see the ponies put their genitalia through and over the guardrail. They were in ecstasy as they vigorously stroke their public privates. Some stallions untied bands and string from the base of their cocks. The perverts released their reproductive juices, shooting it towards the center of the room.

This display of this place’s perversion de-synced Dark and myself, as I was embarrassed for just seeing it, where Dark was disgusted by the vile act of lust and self-pleasuring. Only the centerline of the room was left clean, literally. At this point I did regret having a white coat, I would only know if I was hit after it soaked in. I shut my wings as I tried to stay small, looking away.

My eyes sank to the floor, but over the moan, we heard a noise. We looked up to see Bronco chuckling, waving at me to come at him. I knew charging head-on wasn't wise. But there was no way I was going to risk getting hit by their sticky white 'fire'. I galloped at the injured creature, getting ready to get behind him again. I looked at him as I started my slide, my glare melted as I saw him smirking.

I looked down as I was passing under him, seeing his tail in a loop. I tried to stop, to grab his hooves, but it was too late. I slid right into his trap, ensnared by his tail. He pulled me around to his front as I tried to fly away, but his tail was stronger than my wings. It held my waist tightly as he brought me close to him. We growled as we gave him a headbutt.

I exhaled as his fist went into my gut, winging me. I drooled a little blood as it felt like I couldn't breathe, the blunt pain came after that. I gasped for air, feeling like I was going to pass out. Yet I was still able to breathe a little through large gasps for air. He then took his fist out of my gut, surely leaving a mark. He turned me around, for all to see my loss. I groaned slightly as I heard him chuckle.

"Ladies and gentlecolts, I will now show you a Pegasus cock. A rare and possibly once in a lifetime experience, so take a close look." His voice didn't wane at all, still highly charismatic.

I yelped as his wounded arm grabbed my hoof. His other hand moved to his side, I looked down in horror. He pulled his thong off. His cock was limp and brown, it was at this point Dark simply left. I tried to squirm, but this caused it to grow and grow. I shivered as it almost touched my tail, luckily I held it to the side. It was about half as long as my body, but even so, it was thinner than mine.

"You like?" he whispered into my ear. I shook my head as I shut my eyes.

The crowd cheered as Bronco put the thong around my neck, causing me to shiver and whimper.

"Hope you’re still hard." He grabbed my rear leg and forcefully opened my legs. "Oh, yes he is!"

I blushed and tried not to cry in embarrassment. I could hear everyone's enthusiastic joy at seeing my junk. I tried to ignore them as I tried to get my boner to calm down. But unfortunately, it was to no avail. I peeked an eye open as I breathed slowly. The sight of them made me release a quiet 'meep.' I saw some pony drawing the scene.

"Bring me the ball tie," Bronco said with a chuckle.

Finally having caught enough of my breath, I managed to speak, "W-what's that?"

Bronco breathed into my ear, sending chills down my spine. "A remote-controlled metal wire device. We put them around male troublemaker’s ball sacks, their cock as well, sometimes. They work for us, till their debt is paid off. If not, then it grows tighter and tighter."

I saw a pony bring a strange clamp device and a controller. "No, please," I whimpered.

He let go of one of my legs and grabbed the metal clamp device, squeezing it to open up the metal wire loop. It had a device on the end, a metal ball with a green and red light. I tried to cover myself with my free hoof, to little avail.

"If you try to cut the wire, the device will blow up. Not enough to kill you directly, but the blood loss of having your junk blasted off will kill you if you're lucky." I could hear him snickering as I shut my eyes tight.

There was a metal clang, followed by the sound of metal hitting the floor. But I just kept my eyes shut.

"Miss Selen?!" somepony said.

I opened my eyes to see Selen standing on the balcony. She had bandages around her waist and wing. "Selen?!" I said, squirming.

"Let him go," the pony next to Selen said, reading off a note she gave him.

"But Selen," Bronco began before Selen's speaker interrupted him nervously, "Bronco."

Bronco groaned in annoyance. I looked at her, as her angry glare changed to one of a plea.

"Fine." Bronco dropped me on the ground.

I immediately moved away from his hard-on, before throwing off his thong and covering my violated body with my hooves and wings. I looked to see a strange disc sticking out of the ground, next to the now cut in half ball tie clamp. I slowly stood, my legs shakily holding me up. I was battered and bruised, but my pride was hurt more than anything.

"Hey, good fight, kid." Bronco chuckled. "You really did a number on me, well I better go to the med bay, again. But before I do." He leaned down, face to face with me. "If you hurt her, then I won't hold back next time."

I went and picked up the strange weapon Selen had used. It was a circular steel blade, double-edged. It had a straight handle at the bottom, with three claw finger triggers built in. connected to those triggers was a three-piece like pistol device. On the right was a revolver, on the left was what looked like a spring-loaded marble shooter. Between those two was a flat spring launcher, maybe to launch bits, the old world currency. At the front of the blade was a break for the barrels, followed by two large spikes.

I was about to head upstairs when another announcement stopped me. "Star, go to the medical bay. You can see me after."

With that, Bronco and I were escorted to the medical bay. I decided to walk in front of him, deciding it slightly less awkward. Although a worry of him poking my hide urged me to peek back. To my comfort, he had calmed down.

We reached the medical bay, just outside was a poster. It portrayed an Earth pony with an off cream white coat, two-tone light blue cyan mane and tail. She wore a white-bordered lavender sailor collar with a scarlet tie and a lavender floppy hat, which had a scarlet feather on the side, the same as her cutie mark. She was just standing in the middle of a featureless white poster.

But as I began to walk closer to the poster, the mare faded away. She was replaced by a silver eye, of which the pupil was following me. I stopped and blinked, looking at it. The text, 'Ministry of Views, We got an eye on you' was written in the same angled silver, bold, blunt font.

I started trotting again as Bronco got closer. We then proceeded to enter a relatively clean white medical room. There was a silver spherical robot I had never seen before. It seemed to have three bulb robotic eyes on joints and four long multiple tooled limbs around a glowing gem at its base. It had a grabber claw, buzzsaw, mini flamethrower and a syringe with a bunch of needles.

"Hello there, I'll be your doctor, sirs," the robot spoke in an upper-class accent.

"Oh, a robot doctor, cool," I said as we then proceeded to sit on the edge of some clean beds. I looked at my bruised and battered body, tasting the iron of my blood.

"I am what you would call hip. The mark two Mr. Handy unit, from Robronco. Now I'll be tending to Master Bronco first." The robot went over to the minotaur and started patching him up.

I lay back, before chuckling lightly. "Sure, I'll wait."

"What's so funny?" Bronco asked, looking at me.

"I actually had fun, except for all the sexual harassment," I said with a smile.

Bronco laughed deeply. "Trust me, it's worse for the janitor."

"No!" a cry echoed from down the hallway.

Bronco chuckled. "That would be him now."

I laughed a little, before sighing and looking at the star-shaped paper clip. "What happened to her?"

"She was servicing a client at the front house, a slave. She has a soft spot for sobs, as you'd know." He smirked as the robot bandaged him up.

"Hey," I retorted.

"Anyway, Pink Thing was busy and the slaver burst in on them. He beat them both while they were compromised, broke a few of her ribs and took his slave back." I saw him clench his fists in anger. "I was about to go after him when I got a message from Pink, told me to mess with you."

"Hey, you guys won't tell about my wings, will you?" I asked, looking over at him.

"In our line of work, we are least known for our best skill, information gathering. But our most known skill is tight lips." He snickered.

I groaned at his humor, before standing up. "Sir, your really should let me treat your wounds," the robot said, looking at me with its eye.

"You can when I come back, first I need to kill someone," I said, zipping up my hoodie.

"Kid wait, we need to talk about what you did back there." I looked back at him. "Those purple eyes."

I smiled a little as I started to walk out. "Maybe tomorrow, I'm kinda busy now." In truth, I wanted to know more about Dark and the power he provided. But given everything going on, it wasn't that high on my list. That and I was really strapped for time, given the fact we were assaulting Iron Fort tomorrow.

The walk through the hallway was preceded by lustful looks and cheeky bird whistles. I even saw the aforementioned janitor, who seemed to growl at me in anger. I gave him a cheeky smile as all this was making me blush, although this was better admiration than the Minute Mares'. Soon I was back onto the sticky street, arriving at the front building shortly after.

"Oh, you're alive, what a surprise." Pink thing was waiting for me in the doorway to the building.

"Tell me who hurt her," I said.

She pondered my request, before shrugging. "A zebra slaver, slave said he was in pen four, seven, eight. Claimed his master gave him permission to roam the city for a while. It's a thing some do to keep their slaves happier. Considering his head was still attached, we didn't have a reason to turn him down."

"I'm going," I said.

"You'll need to use Three Stories to get down there unnoticed. Unless you got a license to use the Blood central elevator?" she said, smirking at me.

I sighed. "I'll manage." I felt blood running down my cheek from my mouth, the internal bleeding starting up again.

She tossed me a box of Party Time Mint-als and a healing potion. "Good luck. You'll need it."

I caught it and drank the potion, before putting the drugs in my pocket. "Thanks," I said, walking past her.

I went to Three Stories Bar and proceeded to the elevator. I was then able to get to and out the second floor without an issue. This was my first time on the second floor. Everywhere I looked I saw slaves in chains, muzzles and cages, being led around and put in group storage containers, before being shut in the dark. This was the core of Iron Gem, the core of Blood Skull.

Both slaves and masters were watched by guards as hundreds of ponies moved around a maze-like area. Ponies and slaves alike were stored in shipping containers. As high as five containers were stacked to the top of the second level's ceiling. Walking around the chaos of wagons, whips, and cages, I managed to see that, in fact, free ponies did live in the containers as well. Although they had it all to themselves and theirs were lavished with furniture and lighting, even plumbing.

Some containers were actually used for storage of various goods, such as gear and food, while others contained water purifiers and generators, most likely keeping Iron Gem running. All the containers had two things in common. Every container or group of containers had a guard or two from mixed groups watching their client’s goods. The second thing was every container was numbered.

I proceeded to follow the numbers, and, eventually, I found my target. It was next to a guard and slaver who had a water hose connected to a fire hydrant, blasting high-pressure cold water at their slaves. The slavemaster was yelling at them about hiding things. Apparently, one of the seven slaves had hidden a sketchbook in a fless and was drawing sketches when his master wasn't looking.

At pen four, seven, eight was a generic mercenary standing guard over a barred container with a few dozen ponies in it. Although the flamethrower on his back and side was not very commonplace. I took out the Party Time Mint-als, before taking one. I then proceeded to walk up the container, feeling my mind clear up a bit.

"You, stop," the guard said, pointing the flamethrower at me.

"Pen four, seven, eight. Heard a zebra slaver was looking to hire an extra hoof?" I said, looking at the hungry, dirty and scared collared slaves.

The guard stammered, "I... first I'm hearing of this."

I saw a stallion with fresh bruises and wounds in the back of the container. "Where can I find him? I'm looking for work and need to know if he's still hiring."

The guard looked me up and down. "He is a she, and I shouldn't say, she wouldn't like to be disturbed."

I walked up to the guard. "I'm looking to gain experience in the slave trade, so I'm willing to work for free on a few runs with someone with knowledge."

The guard sighed. "Pen number nine, two, one. She'll like that tongue on you."

I smiled at him. "Thanks."

Pen number nine, two, one. It turned out to be near the edge of this maze of containers. I knocked on the container door. "Akira? Is that you? Give me a clue?" The unmistakable, exotic accent was definitely a zebra.

The container door opened a bit. "No, my name’s Star Shot."

The zebra opened the door, sticking her head out. She was kind of old, scarred and wrinkled as she looked at me. She had a gold earring, a ring of metal jewelry around her neck and her mane was short but raggedy, despite being shaped like a mohawk. Her eyes were a rich brown.

"You I do not know, perhaps you should go," she said, rhyming.

"Um, I heard you were looking for an extra hoof? I'm willing to work for free," I said.

"This I have no recollection, but I would like to chat at our discretion." She proceeded to open the door and invited me inside.

I stepped in, noting that there was a table, a large bed, a light, a toilet, and a sink. "Thank you for hearing me out."

She closed the door behind me. "One who works for free, that would bring me great glee. But first I must know your plea." She moved to the bed, sitting on it.

"You hurt my friend and innocent ponies," I said, standing at the door.

She glared at me. "I deplore that whore for giving him her back door."

I lowered my head in an aggressive stance as I glowered. "I'll make sure you can't hurt anyone again." My wings shot through my hoodie.

She gasped, "So you are a Pegasus, this I will rectify," before she took a zebra fighting stance.

We clashed hooves in the tight space of the container. Trading and blocking blows, for an old girl, she was quite nimble. She deflected one of my strikes and came in close, getting a few quick light hits into my gut, before backing up. I coughed a little blood, remembering I had yet to get my wounds both internal and external properly treated.

I went to strike again, yet again she went to defect it. I got a wing punch under her hoof joint, followed up by another to her other side. She landed a hoof slap to my face before jumping back again. But she hit the back of the container. Letting her guard down for a second, I took the opportunity.

A duel wing slap to the face stunned her as I then headbutted her metal neck rings. Being against the wall meant the force couldn't be transferred back and instead her neckwear bent inward. She dropped down, gasping and grabbing at the large neckwear as the indent pushed against her airway. I looked down at her, watching as she was choked to death by what I assumed was a traditional necklace.

I panted and sat, wiping a trickle of blood off my cheek. I felt nothing. I then proceeded to grab the slaver’s pen key and a bag of a dozen caps. "Mother?" I froze as the door creaked open slowly. I saw eye to eye with a young zebra colt, but he wasn't looking at me. No, he was looking at his mother, the mother I murdered.

He bolted off before I could say a word. I gave chase, hiding my wings again. I stumbled as I ran after the young zebra, he was crying. I felt his tears hit me as I got closer. My chest felt heavy as I was filled with a hollow sadness, choking me from within. At this point we were starting to make a scene, slavers and guards alike were taking notice of our scene. During all this, I noticed the zebra colt had a saddle bag.

I swallowed my sadness. "Thief! Return what you stole, you striped rat!"

The zebra nearly knocked me off balance when he looked back at me with tear-filled ruby eyes. I bit my lip and I swayed, but kept up the chase. We moved down the second floor's ground level, now near the outer rim of Iron Gem. The snowstorm was at Iron Gem's doorstep as snow began to blow in sideways, collecting on the ground.

At this point, we had the attention of some Blood Skull lackey, who proceeded to help give chase. "Catch the zebra scum! Thief!" they yelled.

"You killed my mother!" the colt cried, trying to run faster.

"Liar!" I quickly retorted, knowing if I could brand him as such that I may not be questioned.

We ran across the sleet and snow, avoiding the dark spots of frozen ground and ice. A guard or two behind me slipped and came to a sliding halt. "Akira!" I yelled his name, stunning him.

At that moment he misstepped and tripped. He began to slide rapidly towards the edge, where a chain fence was meant to stop ponies falling off the incline and edge. But time and a need for resources had seen this rather mundane safety feature, long stripped away. The zebra screamed as certain death was closing in.

I, on the other hoof, jumped forward and gripped his mane, before trying to slow us down with my hooves. We hit the edge and began to go over when some pony gripped my tail. The kid and I landed on the side of the incline. He screamed as he looked down into the abyss, before fainting from panic. I panted as I held onto him as we were pulled to safety.

It was then that I saw this zebra colt was also wearing a strange pitch black charm on some string around his neck. It looked like a sphere threaded through with string was attached to a smooth long diamond shape bit. Both seemed to be made of crystal or glass. I let go of Akira's mane, panting as I lay next to the fainted zebra colt on the ground.

A few guards came over, along with one who pulled us to safety. "What's going on here?" he said.

I sat up. "This little one stole something from me." I then proceeded to open his saddle bag and pull out the only item inside it.

"A Rarity Statuette?" one of the guards retorted in question.

I looked at the little statue of a white-coated unicorn mare with a fancy purple mane and tail, along with three diamonds as a cutie mark. She struck a striking yet fashionable pose as the item itself seemed flawless. On the pedestal of which she stood atop were the words 'Be Unwavering.'

"Yes," I said.

"What's that?" another guard asked.

The guard who saved us then answered. "It's a statuette of one of Equestria's Ministry Mares, a genuine one is quite rare."

"Yeah, we get it, you're from Equestria," another guard said in a mocking tone.

The original guard sighed. "Whatever, we can take the thief off your hooves if you like. But first, we need proof you belong here."

I proceeded to pull out the slaver pen key and showed it to one of them. "Four, seven, eight. Yep, that checks out."

"Mind if I take the brat? He could work off his crime to me," I said, putting the statue in the saddle bag, before picking the zebra up and placing him on my back.

The three guards shrugged and proceeded to leave. I took Akira to a bench by the edge, out of sight of the crowds. I saw a clock, it was almost ten. I let him rest, knowing it would cut into my time with Selen. But I did just kill his mom, but she was a slaver who hurt Selen and others. I groaned as this dilemma made me feel like crap. She wasn't trying to kill me first, I was the one who attacked. This whole situation was heavy.

I decided to take out the Rarity Statuette and looked at it. 'Be Unwavering.' Such a simple request. I lied about my virtue being endurance, then pain. But what if like Dark, it too was actually another side of me? I had somehow endured the pain of others and my personal loss. Could I endure to survive? I knew I was going to be unwavering in my mission tomorrow. But after that, would I want to live? Did I want to die?

"Mother?" Akira groaned as he slowly sat up. He looked at me and the statuette before his memory set in. He teared up, sniffling.

"I'm sorry. I know you and your mom were probably forced into the life of slavers," I said, remembering Store Stock.

He wiped his tears. "Is that why you murdered her, my mother?" That word was like a dagger to my heart. "You're wrong, we chose this life."

I handed him back the Rarity statuette. "Why?" I asked, trying not to look at him.

He took it and held it tight. "Why? Isn't that what I should be asking you?"

I looked out to the imposing cliffs. "Your mom hurt a friend of mine and enslaved innocent ponies."

Akira gripped the statuette tightly in anger. "Innocent? No, every one of our slaves was sentenced to their punishment for crimes of murder, rape, thievery and more. The one who went to the brothel was permitted to roam the town. But he was forbidden to feel physical pleasure after he raped and killed a filly that was younger than I."

I swallowed my sorrow at learning this fact, I bowed my head. "Sorry, I didn't know."

"How could you? Mother knew that this life might get her or myself killed one day." He smiled a little as he looked down. "Do what you think is right. Face whatever comes later. Those were the words she lived by.”

I slouched on the bench. "But it this world, how do you know what's right and what's wrong?"

"One must do what they feel is right, then face whatever their consequences come after." He sat back and looked up at the storm above, snow falling upon us. "May I tell you a story?"

I sighed. "Sure."

"Mother and I were a part of a clan that was one of the first to fall in the war of thirty-two. Others feared us due to our worship of Sombra."

"Who was Sombra?" I asked, taking pity on the zebra child, my mind still lingering on what he said before.

"It is said Sombra was the ruler of the empire at one time, but was defeated by the combined power of Luna and Celestia. But he returned and sought to retake the throne. But he was too impatient and weak, this time the fragment of himself was defeated by a dragon. It's believed that this god returned a third time as the drug known as Nightmare. Choosing to give dark power to the worthy as he too grows stronger from them. As for the weak, well they are thought of as insults and punished with insanity before death." His voice was distant.

I was intrigued by this mythology, so far it was the only explanation I had gotten to Nightmare. Although the blood of some dark one did seem a bit far fetched. Bronco also seemed to have knowledge on Nightmare, but I was in a rush and unable to ask him more at the time. That and from all the history lessons dad taught me, I never recalled any ruler by the name of Sombra.

"Why tell me all this?" I asked.

"Do you hear it?" he asked.

"Hear what?" I replied.

"Vocationem ad vacu."

"What?" I said, cocking my head in confusion.

The zebra kid stood up and kissed the black charm on his necklace. "I am doing what I think is right, Mr. Pegasus. The only question is if you'll do the same and catch me?"

"What?!" I looked at the zebra, only to see him jump off the edge of Iron Gem with his eyes closed.

"Sombra deus volt dolor," he said, biting into his charm. I didn't even think before jumping after him.

I grabbed him as we fell down, holding him out in my hooves. I saw the sphere part of the charm break off as he turned the long diamond and began to suckle it. It must have been a small hidden flask. I was pretty sure I knew what it contained. Akira screamed in agony as we still fell, I put out my wings to slow us. But the biggest problem wasn't the ground. No, it was the fact he had just taken Nightmare.

I could feel Dark with intrigue. I on the other hoof was vary of the power it would give him and whether he would survive. The kid flung his head back in a scream before a pop overtook it. I watched in horror as his jaw opened up one hundred and eighty degrees. Blood began to pool in his mouth as bubbles gargled up. I quickly stopped our fall and looked at him in fear, was it rejecting him?

I let my guard down as I looked up and began to fly. When all of a sudden I felt dozens of long needles dug into my shoulder, before being clamped down. I screamed and began to fall. When I looked I saw it was, in fact, Akira biting into my shoulder. But it didn't feel like normal teeth. I tried to pry his jaw open, but it didn't budge, instead, the movement made whatever it was tear up more of my shoulder.

Akira's eyes shot open. Gone was the rich red, only purple remained. I screamed as the purple eye had the complete attention to kill. But in the abyss, I knew I had to stop our fall, as it surely couldn't be bottomless. I spread out my wings as our rapid descent slowed. But suddenly my body began to feel drained, all my strength leaving my body as my eyes felt heavy.

I focused all my attention on my wings, making sure they were stiff to slow our fall, even resorting to sexual thoughts of Selen. But my mind grew tired as I felt myself drift away into darkness. I was about to give in when I felt Akira ripped off my shoulder, literally. There was a pain as whatever he dug into my shoulder shredded and tore my flesh as we parted. After a split second later I crashed into the ground hard.

I opened my eyes, to my horror, in front of me, impaled through his back on a stalagmite was Akira. His eyes were still glowing purple as they were wide open. His mouth was gaping open beyond any natural amount as his teeth were now long crimson needles. The very same that dug into and shredded my shoulder open. Some of the teeth were broken and I presumed still in my shoulder.

I tried to stand, expecting blood loss and pain. But despite my shoulder’s looks, I felt fine. I took a step towards Akira. but stopped when a quite synthetic, multi-layered laughter began to emanate from his mouth. I saw blood come out his throat and reshape into new needle teeth, before hardening into a crimson crystal. His eyes then blinked and looked at me, before growling and snarling at me like a monster.

It was then in the horror did I notice he was not bleeding or had bled from his impalement. His hooves grabbed the stalagmite and he slowly but surely began to pull himself up and off of it before landing on his hooves. There was a massive hole in his midsection and I could see right through him, literally. It made me a little queasy as he moved at me, his movement janky and stiff, like a puppet.

It was then that I heard the same demonically multi-layered laughter coming from the shadows. I looked to see dark figures swirl around, a darkness darker than the dark. They took shape, the silhouettes of everyone I ever killed. Fifteen raiders that I had killed, some for attacking my family and home. The smiling one was included with them, as well as the one I impaled in the school and the other one I struck down.

"What have you got us into?" I looked down in front of me, surprised to hear Dark. His shadow body was that of a colt, a little younger me.

"Dark? Is that you? What's going on?" I asked him.

More shadows formed as Akira took a step closer. Some ghouls and crystal bunnies formed, one ghoul was glowing. But it was with darkness, not radiation. Then the figures of Berry Butcher and Candy's slaver manifested. Next to Akira formed the shadowy figure of his mother. They slowly surrounded me as they all looked at me blankly, except Akira, who was more like a savage animal.

"Enough of this, you need my help," Dark said as he opened his eyes. His white eyes had purple pupils the size of a ping-pong ball, much bigger than the pinpricks they used to be.

"No," I said, looking down in shame.

"No?" he asked.

"Why should I endure? Why should I be the one to survive when others don’t? What’s the point?" I sat down in the shadows and Akira slowly approached.

Dark raised his hooves and suddenly shadows formed around us, protecting us. "Because if you’re dead, then I'll die too. Never getting to have any fun or kick back and relax."

I couldn't help but chuckle at his selfishness, which in term made him smile. "You ass, fine. But if you survive the next few days, I'm gonna need a drink and a vacation. I'd love to be able to watch the clouds at night, maybe I'd be lucky and spot a cloud."

Out of the shadows around me stepped seventeen guards and mercenaries of Slave Town. Then Bulk Build and Last Meal formed next to Dark. None of the ponies were armed, but they faced the shadow ponies siding with Akira. The shadows screamed in silence as they charged at each other. I joined them in my charge, punching a shadow raider, wondering if the hit'll connect.

To my surprise, it did connect. His muzzle cracked and glowed with purple light and embers. I let down my guard, in surprise, shadow Berry Butcher took the opening to tackle me to the ground. I wrestled him on the ground, before hitting him in the sides with my wings. He flinched and recoiled, I used this opportunity to headbutt him, knocking him off me.

I then got up, smiling. "You were right." I started beating down on him, before the cracks spread over his body and he crumbled into dust.

I stood, before noticing blue and white light coming from my side and forehead. I was cracked, but I didn't care. I had an amazing battle to get back to. Both sides won and lost fighters as more and more shattered. Dodging, punching and most of all, flying. I picked up the smiling raider and put him in a flying suplex drop.

"I'm sorry," I said to him before letting him go and pushing away. He was still smiling as he shattered.

Something slammed into my wings and back, biting into me. I screamed out of instinct but didn't actually feel pain. I then looked back to see crystal bunnies clawing and biting at me, barely making a scratch on me. I flung them off and they broke like glass. Akira's mother was responsible, she had thrown them at me. I went in for a flying kick, but was blocked by three shadow raiders. Instead my kick connected with one of them and they broke.

The other two gave me a double punch as their buddy shattered. I blocked them with my wings and was sent flying back. My wings shattered as I slid back, cracks all over my body. I went to stand up, but the cracks spread, so I stopped and watched the battle. Dark was winning, the raiders were gone and we had more guard shadows on our side. But Akira was tearing through them as he was barely cracked, the hole seemingly having no effect on him.

Despite his small stature, Dark was handling all three ghouls with ease. I was worried when I saw the dark ghoul heal the others. But that worry was short lived when Last Meal stepped in and took out the dark glowing one. Akira's mother approached me, staring at me with her blank expression and empty eyes.

"I'm sorry, but I did what I felt was right at the time. Now I have to face the consequences that come after." I swung my arm up at her. My arm shattered along with her.

Akira screamed, his angry howl washed into the darkness. He then quickly dispatched the remaining guards, biting and tearing through them. He charged at me. Leaving Last Meal with the ghouls, Dark went to try and stop Akira. His flat open mouth snapped shut, its needled blood teeth locking together as Dark's head disappeared. Last Meat and the ghoul managed to shatter each other in a final blow.

Then there was only two left. Just me and Akira, he was barely cracked and I was down my wings and a limb. He growled before pouncing at me, opening his mouth wide. I blocked his bite with my remaining forehoof, it crumbled with ease. His mouth now shut, I went in for a final blow. Our heads connected with the sound of shattering glass as there was a large flash of light.

"I'm sorry."

I groaned as I felt pain, I smiled as I felt Dark was happy too. "We won," Dark said.

I opened my eyes, seeing Akira, dead on a stalagmite, back to normal. I went to get up when I stopped, seeing the needle shredded wound of my messed up shoulder, bleeding lightly. I sighed, taking a deep breath. That’s when it hit me, the cold air. Now, this was coming from someone who lived in a frozen tundra and had to take baths and get out in the said cold.

No, when I say the cold air, I mean it. My lips stung before numbing from the chilling air filling my lungs. This was dangerously cold air, in my hoodie, I probably wouldn't last twenty minutes down here. I stood up, shivering as I saw my breath. I looked up to see Iron Hole and was quite surprised to see it was even higher than the cloud layer was from the surface.

I turned away from Akira and said, "I'm sorry."

Loud gun fire rained down around me, incendiary rounds encircling me. In the new light, I saw large, thick worm-like creatures sliver back into the dark. I looked up to see Chief security Grumble, his anti-machine sniper machine gun pointed down at us. Smoke poured out of the barrel, a red glow emanating from them. Grumble looked down at me with a smirk as he moved above Akira's corpse.

"Quite the situation we have here, Star," Grumble said, before perching on the tip of the stalagmite.

I heard Dark whisper in my ear. "Go." We were one, again.

We rushed forward, spreading our wings. Grumble opened fire with his AP and incendiary rounds. Rounds hit the ground around me, peppering me with stone fragments. We dashed up the side of the stalacmite, flying past Akira's corpse. Bullets flew past us, some scraping against us and through my hoodie. We lunged at Grumble, hooves out and mouth open as we tackled him.

We wrapped our forehoof around Grumble's back. He pushed his claws into our chest, trying to push us off. We opened our mouth wide, feeling the blood from our mouth moving and shaping itself into two upper fangs. We bit down into Grumble's feathery neck. He screamed and clawed at our chest as we drew blood. Grumble's blood flowed into my mouth, seemingly wanting to move to my crimson fangs, even after I pulled away. Strings of blood from the wound moved like rivers, through the air, and into my mouth.

The world darkened and time seemed to slow until we were alone in a dark limbo. Blood stopped flowing from Grumble to me as he froze in time. Then out of the darkness, ribbons of images and memories rose from the void. These weren't the memory bubbles that Dark showed me, no, these were Grumble’s memories. Distorted noise and chatter came from the one memory as we reached out and touched it.

There was a flash when we touched the ribbon. We found ourselves in a warehouse. We were floating in an ethereal state. It was dark, there was a weird noise coming from the roof as we looked around. Water was leaking and dripping from the roof as the wind howled. There was a makeshift sleeping area consisting of a few mattresses and a few shelves with various stuff on them. The standard wasteland squatter set up in an old world building. We looked around to see a Griffin sitting in the warehouse with ponies and the likes around him, in a little community.

All of them seemed like scavengers. They brought in scrap and salvage as they cleaned and repaired it. Grumble, a young Griffin at the time seemed to be cleaning some scrap he had collected. He seemed to be an outsider as ponies his age were playing together or sticking with their family and friends. A gruff looking stallion trotted up to Grumble with two bowls of soup.

"Put that thing down, kid," the stallion said.

Grumble put the trinket down and stood up. "Dinner time? Already?"

The pony sat down and handed a bowl to Grumble. "We managed to buy more food from some of the other groups."

Grumble took the bowl and started eating. "Lucky, maybe the rain will even let up."

The pony chuckled. "The rain hasn't let up since the old world died."

"True, the metal devils giving you any trouble?" Grumble asked as he licked his bowl.

The pony put down his bowl. "We tried tracking their patrol patterns, finding were they resupply, and searching for their remaining manufactory locations. But still, we haven't had any luck."

The two of them seemed to sit in a disappointed silence. The bustle and noise of the community washed over them. But then a loud wailing noise roared throughout the warehouse. The noise hurt everyone's ears as panic ensued. The sound whined as it rose and fell, screeching, as it was made to be heard.

"Sentinel!" somepony managed to yell above the noise.

A fireball blew into the warehouse as a large thing with glowing red eyes stood outside the new large hole in the wall. A whining sound came from the beast before bullets streamed out from his chest. Mini gunfire ripped through the community as the barrel flashes revealed what a sentinel was.

A hulking robot with a vaguely ponyesque shaped head with four glowing red eyes. It had a chest mounted mini-gun and a missile launcher turret on its right. There was an empty, damaged slot on its left for a missing weapon. Its body was a large bulky metal hull, which was banged up with scratches, bullet scraps, dents and blast marks.

The robot rolled into the warehouse as ponies shot at it with small arms. The rounds didn't seem to affect the robot as they bounced off with ease. The sentinel's legs were, in fact, four large spider-like legs with ball rollers for feet. It moved forward as it turned and looked around the warehouse as ponies tried to flee.

"You are trespassing on Robronco property. You will be shot, then fined," the robot spoke, its mechanical voice booming from its head.

The stallion grabbed the young Grumble and started to run. The sound of missiles whooshing through the air was soon followed by their imminent explosions. Grumble shielded himself with his wings as they rushed out in the stampede of ponies. The sentinel remained behind as it slaughtered any pony that failed to escape.

"Scatter! Before it gives chase!" the stallion yelled.

As we watched, everything became more fluid and wavy. Time began to slow and the color bled away as the world slowly became grey, then black. We blinked and found ourselves in mid-air with the present day Grumble. We were falling in darkness, Grumble seemed frozen in his expression of surprise.

Ribbons began to sprout from the darkness as we looked and listened to them. We then spotted more recent memories. These were the memories of Grumble and all of Iron Fort's defenses, protocols and patrol roots. Everything, all of the new and old defenses Grumble had set up or changed after Armored Wall's expulsion.

We learned everything ee needed to. Griffin flight paths, blind spots, guard locations. There was even the fact that Iron Fort used to be some industrial elevator in a ring around the platform. Apparently, it was retired before the bombs fell, due to a drop in productivity. This left in function only the now destroyed town of Iron Coat, which was built atop the first elevator platform, operational back in the old world. The elevator was locked in place by welding two dozen metal joiners from the ring to the elevator.

We also found what Grumble's true intentions were. Apparently Blood Rose had a safe in his office that contained a star core. Similar to the one Silver had stolen from her dad, but this one was different. Grumble didn't know what this one did, but whatever their star core things were, they were powerful. We then kept looking for more information.

We found the code to Blood Rose's office. After that we found out where the Pegasi and chariots were being kept. At this point, we were looking for an evacuation plan or some situation that would draw out as many guards as possible. We were still looking through Grumble's memories, but were knocked out of one involving attacks on Iron Gem. We opened our eyes, finding myself and Grumble on the floor of a color-filled world.

Dark and the darkness was gone as I was awake again. I stood up, feeling my body shiver with uncontrollable tremors from the cold. I looked down to see Grumble paralyzed on the floor, groaning and staring at me with malicious intent. I then looked up to see Akira still stuck dead on the stalagmite. I proceeded to take Grumble’s weapon before I heard movement in the dark.

"S-Star," Grumble managed to mumble, still seemingly paralyzed by my bite.

I slowly took flight, hearing faint screams as the things in the dark got a live feast. Using my new knowledge, I was able to get back to Iron Gem. I landed at Armored Wall's shack but found it to be abandoned. I decided to head back to the second floor for some unfinished business. The ponies on the third floor all seemed to avoid me, probably because I had an anti-machine rifle on my side. Although I was unable to use it without a battle saddle, unless I wanted to fly, stand or lay down.

I proceeded to enter Three Stories Bar, trying to avoid the two remaining brothers, again. I managed to make it to the elevator when I was spotted. "Stop!" Blim ran over to me, anger in his eyes. Luckily the doors closed and started moving up before he got to me. I sighed as I moved up.

I got to the second floor and the doors opened. I took a step forward but was stopped by the sound of cocking guns. "Freeze!" Blam was in front of me, along with a dozen of his armed security ponies.

I took a step forward and Blam pulled out a fancy engraved .357 magnum revolver. The barrel, frame, and cylinder were made of a smooth black metal decorated with ornate gold etchings. A polished ivory handle was inlaid with the symbol of clubs. The word "Lucky" was engraved on the silver plate on the ejector tube. This elegant gun had its barrel pushed to my forehead.

"What do you want?" I said, looking down at Blam, seeing tears and anger in his eyes.

Blam cocked his gun, pulling back on the hammer with his magic. "My brother is dead because of you!"

I leaned my head into the barrel, pushing it back a bit. "So what? You're going to kill me?"

"Yes!" he screamed, growling in rage.

"No. You. Are. Not," I said with a large smirk. "Blood Rose wants me alive, to kill me would be the same as disobeying him. Just like Blom did."

"I don't care!" Blam yelled, his gun shaking a little.

"Oh, but you do. If you disobey Blood, then he'll be out for your blood. We both know he could destroy you with ease if he wanted."

Blam dropped his gun as he started crying. I just walked past him with my head held high, the guards putting away their guns as they were all powerless. I walked out into the second floor, making my way back to Akira's mom's container. My heart ached with pain as I saw her corpse laying there. But I didn't want to cry, not yet anyway.

I proceeded to look around the container, eventually finding the guard’s contract and the ownership papers for the slaves and the files on them. After reading through all the files, I left, closing the door behind me. Akira was right, all their slaves were monsters and scum that deserved to burn.

I made my way to the storage container, number four, seven, and eight. The guard with the flamethrower battle saddle was still diligently standing guard. I was getting strange looks as I assumed they were looking at my unnatural bite mark through my bloody hoodie. The wound had already stopped bleeding, although it still hurt as I trotted around.

I popped another Party Mint-al in my mouth and swallowed as I approached him. "Hey," I said.

"What the hell happened to you?" the guard asked, surprised to see my condition.

"Not important." I then pulled out his contract from my pocket. "But I'm here to tell you your job is finished."

He looked me up and down. "Why do you have that? What's going on here?" He was getting suspicious of me.

I sat down. "Akira had been kidnapped by thugs on the third floor. I was sent to rescue him, as the thugs knew you were here and threatened to kill him if you came. But they didn't know my face."

The guard sat, listening to my story. "But why kidnap a slaver kid? They're not rich by slaver standards?"

I raised a hoof. "As it turned out they were buddies of a slave, this one in fact." I proceeded to pull out the slave's file, the pedophile that slept with Selen. "Young Fun."

"That troublemaker." He seemed to know of the nuisance Young Fun was.

"I saved Akira, got this nice anti-machine rifle. Akira and his mother decided to flee Iron Gem right away, in case any more thugs were around. So they gave me the slaves as thanks and asked me to pay you, with a bonus to make up for the inconvenience." I pulled out the bag of a few hundred caps I had gotten from the zebra's belongings.

The guard took the caps and looked like he was thinking, wondering if I was lying or not. "Hmm, okay, they are all yours.”

He was about to walk off, after hoofing me the keys. "Wait," I said, he turned to look at me. "May I have that flamethrower? I'll give you this auto-machine gun in exchange."

He looked at the large gun on my side. "Kid, this flamer's not anywhere near the worth of a gun like that. It even has AP and incendiary rounds."

"So you don't want it?" I said firmly.

He shrugged and took off his flamethrower and fuel tank from his battle saddle and back. "Sure, whatever."

I put the rifle down and he began to put in on. I trotted to the barred up shipping container, seeing the skinny and meek ponies looking at me with fear and curiosity. I unlocked the cage and opened the door, looking at of all them and remembering the collected crimes of the ponies before me.

"Young Fun," I stated his name, in a demanding tone. The ponies before me moved and parted, making a path right to him. "Get over here," I said.

He did as he was told, keeping his head down as he limped out. His one eye was still swollen shut, bruises peppered his body with new and old marks. His tail and mane were raggedy and dirty, his coat roughed up. I could see his ribs, he and many of the others were malnourished. They all wore the same slave collar, a simpler version of the one I once wore. Regardless, I knew what it meant to be a slave, if only for a short time.

I closed the doors to the makeshift cell as the guard stood close to Young Fun. I then picked up the flamethrower, stood on my hind legs and pointed it into the cell. The ponies inside whimpered and cried in fear.

"What, you're not going to-" I cut the guard off with the roaring gush of a flamethrower.

Before my eyes I saw ponies engulfed in flames, screaming and burning as they all tried to move further back. They couldn't, they pounded on the walls of the containers and some tried shielding themselves with others. The flame engulfed them and everything around them as their screams soon died out. Corpses still burning littered the floor, as smoke began to flow out of the top of the containers.

I turned off the flamethrower and dropped in as I fell back to four hooves. Everyone around me looked shocked, but none more so than Young Fun. The ponies in the pen next to ours quickly put out the fire with the aforementioned fire hydrant. Black sludge, the mixture of ash and water poured out as the flames were put out. The sound of water steaming and sizzling could be heard as the water hit hot metal.

Everyone looked at me angrily. I ignored them as I opened the cell doors. "Young Fun, get in," I said, glaring at him.

He whimpered in fear, but did as he was told, after a shove from the guard. "Go on."

Young Fun walked into the charred container, head low as he tried not to look at the blackened heap of smoldering ponies. It reminded me of dad and his fate. I shoved Young into the pile of corpses in the back, he screamed and cried as they crumbled and burned him. We were at the back of the container, in the dark, out of sight. Only the soft smoke and glowing smolder of the corpses could be seen from the outside.

I felt Dark return to me as our top canine teeth felt like they were growing. Young cried and whimpered as we were covered in ash and burnt flesh. He refused to look at us as he pushed up against the wall so many had tried to escape from. Through the dim red glow of embers, we could see the glistening of our blood fangs. We plunged those fangs into his neck as he screamed in pain.

The world around us went dark again as he froze in his scream. Yet again, the sound and color bled away as we were no longer in reality. His memory ribbons flowed up through the charred corpses. We focused our mind, looking for the guilty memory. Surely enough, we found it. It was not one, it was many. I looked through them, seeing memory after memory of this stallion taking, hurting, fucking and killing colts and fillies.

By the time we had finished two memories out of dozens, we were filled with rage. The darkness of the world shattered as we looked down at Young Fun laying on the hot pile of demented slaves. His eyes were filled with fear as he was powerless to move, paralyzed by our vampiric memory bite. We growled at him, before striking him with a hoof, then another and another.

He started screaming again, but at that point, it was too late for him. Eventually, the sounds of his screams stopped and the only sounds were the bones and embers cracking as we beat a dead horse. By the time we were done, we were exhausted. We trotted out of the ceil, feeling the floor wet with blood. Outside the ponies gasped and looked at us with horror. We were coated in blood, ash and blackened skin flakes.

The crowd gave us a wide berth as we walked past them, the guard included. We made our way back to the bench and sat down, seeing the statuette still there. I looked up at the clock, it was almost midnight. I blinked and felt Dark was gone, the dark pleasure leaving my body as I hugged the figure in my gory embrace and started to cry. I just wanted to go back to my peaceful life, to lead a simple life, for all of this to end.

Author's Notes:

I really enjoyed this chapter, I hope all of you did as well.

Level UP
Level 6!
Plus 5 to sneak, speech, plus 3 to melee.
Level 2 Enduring Will, resist the effects of blood loss and damage when below 15% health

New Perk unlocked: vampiric memory bite. When you have nightmare within you, even small amounts, you gain this power.

Vampiric memory bite: Using Nightmare, you can grow small blood fangs. When ingesting fresh blood, you can view the donors memories in a third person view. While being in a super slow-motion mental bubble.

Thanks to my editor amazing editor who isn't even annoyed at the huge wait between chapters:
https://www.fimfiction.net/user/275628/EverfreePony